Why No Diagonal Striping for Lafayette Crosswalks?

Welcome to "You Ask … Patch Answers," the weekly column for Chathamites looking for solutions to community problems or issues.

One reader asked:

The kids are walking to school on Lafayette Avenue now without the benefit of striped crosswalks. They spent all this money to repave the road and put in the sidewalk, and those crosswalks are only marked with straight lines. Where are the diagonal stripes that are more visible to drivers?

Chatham Patch asked Joe Barilla, the head of the Chatham Township Department of Public Works, about the lack of diagonal striping. He said that the money to repave and paint Lafayette Avenue was state funded, which meant the project had to be done according to the state's standard.

"It had to be done their way," Barilla said. "Our way is diagonal [striping in crosswalks], their way is straight."

Straight lines in a crosswalk mark an area where cars are not permitted to enter while a pedestrian is crossing without at least one lane of traffic in between, as the Chatham Township Police Department has been trying to demonstrate with its "" program.

This initiative, where plainclothes police officers walk in crosswalks to "challenge" oncoming traffic, is meant to enhance driver awareness of pedestrian safety.

The crosswalks near Southern Boulevard School also have crosswalks marked only with straight lines, but the Chatham DPW recently repaved several roads off of Southern Boulevard through locally-funded projects. The crosswalks on these roads have diagonal striping, according to township standards.

Lafayette Avenue has sidewalks on only the eastern side of most of the road, to encourage pedestrians, especially children going to school, to use that one side. Crossing guards are placed at nearby intersections with reflective gear and hand signs instructing cars to stop while children cross.

Barilla said introducing sidewalks on the western side of Lafayette Avenue would be a costly venture, one that he has not heard residents really want.

"No one's talked to me about it" Barilla said. "Sidewalks on one side of the street are good enough."